It’s day 5. Is your brain tangled yet?
If you’re not trying to write a book in a month, then disregard the above sentence. Because hopefully your brain IS NOT in a tangle and you’re doing something completely normal, like planning for Thanksgiving, or even, I don’t know, working out at the gym.
Watching Outlander. (yes, season 4 premiered yesterday).
But, for some of us, and you know who you are, we are trying to write a book in a month for the annual National Novel Writing Month.
Many authors got their start with this fast-drafting, epic writing month. (me too!)
And, admittedly, it’s exciting! We jump into our stories with energy, inspiration and commitment.
And then…
Well, and then we get past the initial home world, inciting incident and even into the noble quest (around chapter 5) and suddenly we think…wait? What is this book about? What happens NEXT?
My brain is tangled.
This is when my husband often finds me sprawled on the sofa.
“What’s wrong?” He’ll ask.
“I dunno. I’m stuck.”
“Well,” he says, “Did you do your LMNOP?”
You know, like the alphabet…L.M.N.O.P.
I stare at him for a long moment while he raises an eyebrow.
“Oh. Wait. The S.E.Q.?“
“Yeah, that story crafting tool you use…did you do it? Because you always get stuck when you don’t do your SEQ.”
Ah…the man is downright brilliant. And yes, I DID MY SEQ. but maybe I need to go back. Dig deeper. Find the Act 2 elements (like the Dark Moment Story retelling.)
The fact is, the story is there…but I need to be reminded—Why this journey? Why now? How will he be defeated? What will he learn?
Why will people care?
I know, I know…soooo many things to think about. And that’s why our FAST DRAFT doesn’t have to be perfect. We just need to get our messy words on the page.
But…have you done your LMNOP?
If not, or maybe you just need refresher, MBT has put together a FREE course THIS MONTH ONLY for NaNoWriMo-ers, called the NaNoWriMo Intensive.
And then….WATCH Plotting 101 with the SEQ.
Ask one question—plot your entire story! We’ll show you how!
It’ll help you get off the sofa and back to work, I promise.
Your story matters! Let’s get it on the page this month.
Susie May
P.S. For you NaNoers I wanted to alert you to an AWESOME TOOL we’ve created for you!It’s a WORD COUNT TRACKER for your project and it not only tells you how many words you’ve written—but how many you need to complete your project…and how many you need to write PER DAY to get to the end.
Math is hard. Let us help.Get the Word Count Tracker.
PPS.The fact is, we’re ALL ABOUT giving you tools to help you succeed. Which is why we also created the My Brilliant Writing Planner – to help you succeed in writing, business and life.Check it out here: www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com and get FREE SHIPPING for the month of November!